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2018's biggest change will be the arrival of the ZB Commodore and in particular the V6 turbo engine which will be used in a wildcard entry at a few races. McLaughlin will no doubt bounce back from last year and be a very strong contender for the championship, but Whincup is far from past it and Van Gisbergen (presuming he can use his head more) will be a serious threat too.

The Tickford (formerly known as Prodrive) Racing team drivers will be ones to watch too, with Mostert winning three races last year and having an outside chance of winning the series until the final race. Richie Stanaway will also be joining the category full-time having impressed internationally with Formula 2 victories and locally with a victory in the Sandown 500 last year alongside another rising star, his Tickford teammate Cameron Waters. David Reynolds and his Erebus Holden also proved to be very quick at the enduros last year, with a win in the co-driver qualifying race at Sandown being followed up by the biggest win of them all at Bathurst. Presuming they can maintain that pace throughout the whole season, they might end up amongst the front-runners at the end of the season too.

Another team that could be getting plenty of attention next year will be the reborn Walkinshaw team, now known as Walkinshaw Andretti United thanks to a buy in from Michael Andretti and Zac Brown of United Autosport. More changes down the grid include the re-entry of the Stone Family (via Matt Stone) into the main series with last year's Super2 champion Todd Hazelwood. They will be running a DJR Team Penske-sourced Falcon. Last year's hopeless backmarkers Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport have now been renamed 23Red Racing and have a new owner. They also have a new driver in the form of Will Davison, who has moved from the seemingly-struggling Tekno Autosport who have yet to confirm a driver (though Jack Le Brocq has been heavily rumoured). Two other new faces will be entering the grid too, Anton de Pasquale at Erebus and James Golding at GRM. Andre Heimgartner will also be re-entering the category full time in the #7 Nissan.

Last edited by theracer120 on Wed Nov 21, 2018 02:07 am, edited 15 times in total.

Last year's hopeless backmarkers Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport have now been renamed 23Red Racing and have a new owner. They also have a new driver in the form of Will Davison, who has moved from the seemingly-struggling Tekno Autosport who have yet to confirm a driver (though Jack Le Brocq has been heavily rumoured).

Re 23 Red there seems to be a bit of uncertainty atm over the extent of their programme beyond the single car main game entry for WD. At launch they announced a secondary programme for Porsche Cup Australia, but this has now seemingly been shelved. Olympic medalist John Steffensen was expected to step up to the series following a year in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge in 2017, and is now exploring other avenues to take part in the series.

In other news, Munday has confirmed to Supercars’ official website that Rob Crawford will take up the role of crew chief at 23Red to replaces Cameron McConville, who will now step aside serve an advisory role.

However Munday has also announced the team is looking already to expand into Super (the old Dunlop feeder deries to the main game.

Munday is now exploring opportunities to add a Super2 Series program for the coming season, with a decision expected to be made in the coming days.

“I’ve got some stuff in the pipeline so really, see what comes out in the next week or so,” Munday told Speedcafe.com.

“At the moment I don’t have a car, but that’s not to say I won’t have something.”

The Super2 program would form part of a longer term plan for 23Red Racing, which could provide a ready replacement for main game pilot Will Davison or even a second car in the Supercars Championship.

“I run in a three year cycle,” Munday explained.

“Will is certainly nowhere near the end of his game, and I think he’s got a lot to offer.

“Just because at this stage we only have one Supercars license in the main game doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t look at something if it grew in what we’re doing.

“Really, 2019 will be the same as this year in the main game with Will; 2020 I would think we’ll still have Will in the main game with us, so there’s a succession for what we want to do.

“So we haven’t made a decision, or I haven’t made a decision, that we’re going to run a development car, but there is a potential that we could run a Super2 car.”

Interesting to read in that quote the emphasis on HE has not yet made the decision which to me confirms he has taken total control with Lucas Dumbress seemingly not part of the decision. Time will tell re the Dumbrell involvement.

As an aside a friend of mine who is a panel beater with his own small set up asked me the other day if I knew of Phil Munday.... apparently he has been asked by Munday to look after the bodywork for 23Red away from the track. Seems odd to me as Munday has a huge panel beating business of his own, but.....

In other news, Munday has confirmed to Supercars’ official website that Rob Crawford will take up the role of crew chief at 23Red to replaces Cameron McConville, who will now step aside serve an advisory role.

Common sense will prevail if that's where he ends up, he would have been even more out of his depth in the BTCC then he was in Supercars. If he can do well enough in Super2 this year (which is where he should have been all along) then he'll give himself a shot at getting back into the main game.

From what we have seen of the 2018 RBR Livery above it looks like it is identical to the 2015/6 VW Polo WRC livery of Ogier. I hope I am wrong but it looks a bit familiar at this stage and the hidden bits extremities Ie the bottom of the door and front guards .....

Probably not a bad ploy with the amount of manufacturer support the various worldwide series enjoy. Coupled to that I can see that given the overseas factor a fully developed car could probably be run on a realistic budget.

Will it detract from the VASC?
Not in the short term I would think, but with diminishing factory involvement and the huge costs involved it could tempt some of the struggling lower budget teams. It would also be a suitable alternative to the ever increasing costs of running a SUper2 team. If the racing is good will the local fans overlook the fact they are not rear wheel drive? For sure the introduction of TCR wont grow the VASC category, particularly if it gets picked up by a competent and financially sound promoter prepared to invest. (Thinks, Tony Quinn?).

I mainly see it having an impact if it gets actual manufacturer entries or money being put into teams, and if it ends up on the Supercars support bill which will give it a good amount of exposure and make it an attractive alternative to Formula 4, SuperUtes or the Carrera Cup.

If they add a TCR class to the 12 Hour or a TCR race to the AGP, then that will help it along too. Another thing that might help would be the addition to or the replacement of the NZTC with TCR, which I could see happening considering that category is really struggling for numbers again.

If none of those things happen then it'll most likely end up on the CAMS Nationals program and I can see it getting good grids, but it will be very difficult to get anything more than minimal public awareness there since that has a total audience of fuck-all.

Last edited by theracer120 on Wed Jan 24, 2018 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.